Getting Rid of Those Acne Scars with Laser Treatment

Have you had to live with scars from acne or acne treatment? They now have this space age therapy using light to help you. With few side effects or discomfort, skin conditions may be greatly reduced or eliminated with this treatment. It's a boost to the self-esteem and a brightening to your future.

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) therapy reduces and removes acne scars and age spots. But, unlike tanning, it doesn't age your skin further or induce skin cancer. The targeted light is shone onto the affected skin, perhaps those scars remaining from acne treatment, for a very limited time each session.

Depending on the condition, the light may be calibrated to your blood to remove those red, spider veins or to the melanin coloring in your skin to remove age-related spots or sun damage. At the same time, it treats those old acne treatment scars. The light damages those areas so that your body sloughs off or absorbs the treated condition. In addition, the old collagen, the connective materials between your cells is replaced by new.

Old collagen, like an old foam pillow, looses its resilience over time. The new collagen plumps up your skin to a fresher level. This helps to fill in small wrinkles and, yes, the scarring from acne and acne treatment.

For severe scarring resulting from acne or acne treatment, a combination of surgery (for the deep ice-pick scars) and laser skin resurfacing might be recommended. For those with lesser problems, the IPL therapy offers the advantages of zero downtime and minimal discomfort.

During an IPL acne treatment session, the doctor cleans the surface to be treated and numbs your skin with a cream. After a few moments, the IPL device is targeted for the condition and placed over the treatment area, which may include more than just those areas affected by acne treatment. The light pulses and feels, some report, like the snap of a rubber band. It is moved over each spot on your face, and that's pretty much it for one treatment.

You may have skin redness that persists for a day or so; and you must protect the treated area from UV light. It usually takes five or six treatments over four to six weeks for maximum results.

Not everybody who has skin damage or acne treatment scars is a candidate. And, a skin patch test is needful to make sure it is safe and effective for you. Your dermatologist is the one to make this evaluation.

You'll want a doctor who is experienced with IPL therapy and does the treatment himself. He should question you closely about medical history and carefully examine your skin and the acne treatment scars. He may also make recommendations supplements you may be taking before your IPL therapy begins.

However your acne may have happened, your IPL treatments will most likely result in a healthier, fresher looking skin with reduced scarring from old acne treatment, and elimination of red spider veins, age spots, and minor sun damage. And your dermatologist will be able to help you through every step of the way.

Written by Ryan Edwards, UK dermatologist specialist. Author of Best Acne Cream website at www.bestacnecream.com www.bestacnecream.com. This article may be reproduced without prior permission but must include this author box.